HMS ''Grafton'' is a

Type 23 frigate The Type 23 frigate or Duke class is a class of frigates built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The ships are named after British Dukes, thus leading to the class being commonly known as the Duke class. The first Type 23, , was commission ...

formerly in service with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. She was the ninth vessel to bear the name, and is named after the

Duke of Grafton Duke of Grafton is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1675 by Charles II of England for Henry FitzRoy, his second illegitimate son by the Duchess of Cleveland. The most notable duke of Grafton was Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke ...

. Ordered in January 1992, ''Grafton'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 13 May 1993 by

Yarrow Shipbuilders Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also o ...

. The frigate was launched on 5 November 1994 and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 29 May 1997 with the

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

F80. In 2007 the ship was transferred to Chile as ''Almirante Lynch'' and, having undergone a significant upgrade from 2019 to 2020, remains in service with the

Chilean Navy The Chilean Navy ( es, Armada de Chile) is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso. History Origins and the Wars ...

Design

Designed to replace the , the Type 23 frigate's operational role as an anti-submarine warfare platform. They are long with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of , a draught of and displaces 4,900 tonnes. They are propelled by a

combined diesel-electric and gas Combined may refer to: * Alpine combined (skiing), the combination of slalom and downhill skiing as a single event ** Super combined (skiing) * Nordic combined (skiing), the combination of cross country skiing and ski jumping as a single event * T ...

(CODLAG) system with two

Rolls-Royce Spey The Rolls-Royce Spey (company designations RB.163 and RB.168 and RB.183) is a low-bypass turbofan engine originally designed and manufactured by Rolls-Royce that has been in widespread service for over 40 years. A co-development version of the ...

boost

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directi ...

s and four

Paxman Valenta The Paxman Valenta was an engine made by Paxman, Colchester for the High Speed Train, and is still in use in various marine applications, such as the ''Upholder''/''Victoria''-class submarines, additionally 4 Paxman Valenta engines provide the ...

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

s. They are also equipped with two GEC electric motors. This gives the ships a maximum speed of and on diesel-electric. The vessels have an effective range of at 15 knots.

Armament

Designed to replace the ''Leander'' class, the Type 23 frigate's operational role as an

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

platform. The design grew to encompass the Sea Wolf and

Harpoon A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument and tool used in fishing, whaling, seal hunting, sealing, and other marine hunting to catch and injure large fish or marine mammals such as seals and whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the t ...

missile systems for

air defence Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

and anti-ship purposes respectively. They were also equipped with one

BAE BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...

4.5-inch (113 mm) Mk 8 gun. For anti-submarine purposes they have four

Sting Ray torpedo The Sting Ray is a British acoustic homing lightweight torpedo (LWT) manufactured by GEC-Marconi, who were later bought out by BAE Systems. It entered service in 1983. Design and development In the 1950s the Royal Navy was equipped with Br ...

tubes. For anti-missile defence they have

Seagnat The Seagnat Control System (sometimes spelled SeaGnat or Sea Gnat) is a British decoy system produced by System Engineering & Assessment (SEA) Ltd firing rounds produced by Chemring Countermeasures Ltd used on many NATO warships to safeguard agains ...

and DFL3 decoy launchers.

Service history

Royal Navy service

On 23 September 1998, while operating off the coast of

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, ''Grafton''s

Lynx helicopter The Westland Lynx is a British multi-purpose twin-engined military helicopter designed and built by Westland Helicopters at its factory in Yeovil. Originally intended as a utility craft for both civil and naval usage, military interest led to t ...

crashed into the sea during a night exercise, one crew member was killed. In 2003, the ship was used in the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

drama series '' Making Waves'' as the fictional Royal Navy warship ''Suffolk''. In early 2004 the ship was deployed in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

. In July 2004, it was announced that ''Grafton'' would be one of three Type 23 frigates to be decommissioned by the end of 2006. In June 2005, it was announced that ''Grafton'' would be sold to the

. During her service in the Royal Navy, her crew were awarded the freedom of the Borough of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

, due to their frequent visits to the

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

town. On her last visit to Ipswich in 2006, the

ship's bell A ship's bell is a bell on a ship that is used for the indication of time as well as other traditional functions. The bell itself is usually made of brass or bronze, and normally has the ship's name engraved or cast on it. Strikes Timing of s ...

was presented to the town as a permanent reminder of the links between ''Grafton'' and Ipswich. The bell is now on display in the reception area of the Ipswich Borough Council offices at Grafton House, named for the connection to the warship. She was decommissioned on 31 March 2006.

Chilean naval service

The frigate was delivered to Chilean Navy on 28 March 2007 at Portsmouth and renamed ''Almirante Lynch'' (FF-07) after

Patricio Lynch Patricio Javier de los Dolores Lynch y Solo de Zaldívar (Valparaíso 18 December 1825 – 13 May 1886) was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy and a rear admiral in the Chilean Navy, and one of the principal figures of the later stages of the War of ...

. Along with other Chilean vessels of her class, ''Almirante Lynch'' underwent a significant upgrade from June 2019 to December 2020. The CMS 330 combat management architecture was installed along TRS-4D G-Band active scanning radars and 32 CAMM Sea Ceptor vertical-launch surface-to-air missile silos to replace the previous Sea Wolf SAM system. ''Almirante Lynch'' participated in the multinational

military exercise A military exercise or war game is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat. This also serves the purpose of ensuring the com ...

RIMPAC RIMPAC, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, is the world's largest international maritime warfare exercise. RIMPAC is held biennially during June and July of even-numbered years from Honolulu, Hawaii, with the exception of 2020 where it was held i ...

2022.

References

Publications

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grafton Ships built on the River Clyde 1994 ships Type 23 frigates of the Royal Navy Type 23 frigates of the Chilean Navy